UK News
Insights from the UK and beyond
from FaithWorld:
Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm, UK cabinet minister says
Prejudice against Muslims has "passed the dinner-table test" and become socially acceptable in Britain, says the Conservative Party's chairwoman Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.
Warsi, a Pakistan-born minister without portfolio in Prime Minister David Cameron's cabinet, will say in a speech at the University of Leicester on Thursday evening that dividing Muslims into "moderate" and "extremist" fuels intolerance, according to prepared remarks published in the Daily Telegraph. (Photo: Baroness Warsi at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, October 3, 2010/Toby Melville)
"It's not a big leap of imagination to predict where the talk of 'moderate' Muslims leads; in the factory, where they've just hired a Muslim worker, the boss says to his employees: 'Not to worry, he's only fairly Muslim,'" according to the first Muslim woman in a British cabinet. "In the school, the kids say: 'The family next door are Muslim but they're not too bad'. And in the road, as a woman walks past wearing a burka, the passers-by think: 'That woman's either oppressed or is making a political statement.'"
There are 2.9 million Muslims in Britain, almost 5 percent of the population, according to an estimate last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Britain has regularly been a focus of Islamist militant plots. In the worst attack in the country, suicide bombers killed 52 people on the London transport network in July 2005.
Will the grope lobby thwart better air safety?
UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson said that London’s Heathrow would get body scanners this month to step up safety. Amsterdam’s airport operator made a similar announcement on Monday and others in Europe could follow.
That will go down like a lead balloon with the European Parliament, whose grope-fond members last year thwarted efforts to push ahead with more thorough passenger screening.
Should the Lockerbie bomber be released?
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the former Libyan agent convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, seems likely to be released from prison and sent home on compassionate grounds.
The 57-year-old, who has terminal prostate cancer, is to be released imminently according to Frank Rubino, an American lawyer who worked on his defence team during his trial.
What rights should terrorism suspects enjoy?
The Law Lords have ruled against the government over the sensitive issue of whether people accused of a crime should have the right to hear the evidence against them.
Three terrorism suspects had claimed it was against their rights to be subject to control orders — which effectively impose a form of house arrest on them –Â on the basis of secret evidence they have been unable to challenge or even hear.
Would you apply for an ID card?
The people of Manchester will soon be the first to be able to apply for an identity card, which the government says will help fight terrorism and reduce fraud. Opposition parties, however, oppose the five billion pound scheme and say it should be scrapped to save money and protect civil liberties.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the cards, which will be available in the city in the autumn ahead of a nationwide roll-out by 2012, will be voluntary. She said the move would allow Manchester citizens “the best chance to start realising the benefits of identity cards as soon as possible.
Was the Davis by-election a gimmick?
                 **** For full coverage of British politics click here ****Â
To nobody’s great surprise, David Davis swept home at the “liberties” by-election in his Yorkshire seat that he himself had engineered by resigning.
What’s your verdict on Gordon Brown?
By common consent, Gordon Brown’s first year is ending up as a shocker for Labour.
It may have started well last June with assured handling of a bomb threat and a swift response to the foot and mouth outbreak last August. Pledges to cut back on two largely unpopular measures: Tony Blair’s plans to open “super casinos “and the extension of drinking hours, also struck a chord with voters.
A courageous decision?
“Courageous” is how Conservative Leader David Cameron described the decision by his shadow home secretary, David Davis, to quit his parliamentary seat and force a by-election over the issue of pre-charge detention.
Davis says he will contest the seat to take a stand on the erosion of civil liberties caused by the proposal to extend to 42 days the time police can hold terrorism suspects without charge.
Reaction to Brown’s 42-day detention vote victory
 Gordon Brown may have won the 42-day detention vote, but the victory was ”hollow”, ”shameful” or “tactical”, depending on which newspaper you read.Â
Under the headline “Westminster for Sale”, The Times said Brown had humiliated parliament with a victory secured through bribery and bartering.
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